By all measures, Kyle Larson has been the most dominant driver of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. Not only are his nine wins more than double as many as the driver with the next highest win total, but he’s also led the most laps and scored the most stage victories, too. So, it’s fair to say the Hendrick Motorsports driver is the clear favorite heading into Sunday’s Championship 4 race at Phoenix. Even so, Larson admittedly has considered the possibility that he might not prevail and how he would handle such a disappointing scenario — which is possible in a one-race, “winner-take-all” format where four drivers show up with an equal shot at the title.
“I try not to think about that possibility,” Larson said. “And I think the more wins you get, hopefully, we’re winning the championship in Phoenix, but I feel like the more wins we’ve gotten will make that feeling — if I happen to not win the championship — easier to swallow, I think, just because it has been a great year. But I don’t know. Like I said, I try not to think about it. We’ll see how the feeling is. Hopefully, we’re celebrating after Phoenix and I don’t have to accept the fact that we didn’t win a championship. But either way, it’s been a good season, but I want to cap it off with what we all want.”
Larson has never won at the 1-mile Phoenix track, but he’s triumphed at several tracks this season where he hadn’t previously gone to Victory Lane. “I think the four most deserving teams are probably in the Final Four,” Larson said. “I’m proud we were able to do it and look forward to battling everybody.”